Communicating Science

Part 1 Introduction: why communicate?; science and the public; how not to become an expert - avoiding expert-ese, filling the knowledge gap. Part 2 Writing: outlets and opportunities - news, features, books, book reviews; style and subtance - a scientist's guide to style, the shock of the new, word pictures, good for a laugh?, form and function, beginnings and endings, rewriting; words and sentences - jargon, short and sweet, word chemistry, sentence structure, punctuation; numbers - quantities, probabilities; illustrations - pictures, graphs, printing and publishing; working with publishers - editing, on the nature of proofs, writing an index. Part 3 Speaking: sit and prepare - planning a talk, a plan in action, making notes, practice makes...better; stand and deliver - conquering nerves, speaking out, gesture and posture, deliveries, bad habits, coping with questions, encore!; visual aids - show and tell, slides, overhead projectors, flip charts, blackboards, films, video, demonstrations. Part 4 Meeting "the media": interviews for the press - preparing for an interview, the main event, information services, aftermath; television - taking to the air, accepting invitations, the studio, the interview; radio - finding stories, speaking for listeners, you and your audience.